“The French Get Lost in the Clouds Over a New Term in the Internet Age — They Turned Email Into Courriel, But What’s With Informatique en Nuage?” is an article in today’s Wall Street Journal (by Max Colchester).
It discusses France’s attempt to preserve the French language, but also how information/technology terms coined in English may not translate well in other languages. (Other languages tend to adopt the English phrases, as opposed to translating them with culturally appropriate terms.) A phrase that may describe a concept well in English may seem confusing, or silly, to international & ESL students. I realize this is true of any new phrase or slang, but we may want to consider this when discussing new information/technological concepts to international & ESL students, especially since this field creates new terms at a fast pace.
Very interesting use and protection of langauge, meaning and symbol all thanks to French Academy efforts to protect their language from the “insidious” modern age and foreign “pollution.” 🙂